The Crusade in the Fifteenth Century: Converging and competing cultures (Crusades - Subsidia)

Increasingly, historians acknowledge the significance of crusading activity in the fifteenth century, and they have started to explore the different ways in which it shaped contemporary European society. Just as important, however, was the range of interactions which took place between the three faith communities which were most affected by crusade, namely the Catholic and Orthodox worlds, and the adherents of Islam. Discussion of these interactions forms the theme of this book. Two essays consider the impact of the fall of Constantinople in 1453 on the conquering Ottomans and the conquered Byzantines. The next group of essays reviews different aspects of the crusading response to the Turks, ranging from Emperor Sigismund to Papal legates. The third set of contributions considers diplomatic and cultural interactions between Islam and Christianity, including attempts made to forge alliances of Christian and Muslim powers against the Ottomans. Last, a set of essays looks at what was arguably the most complex region of all for inter-faith relations, the Balkans, exploring the influence of crusading ideas in the eastern Adriatic, Bosnia and Romania. Viewed overall, this collection of essays makes a powerful contribution to breaking down the old and discredited view of monolithic and mutually exclusive "fortresses of faith". Nobody would question the extent and intensity of religious violence in fifteenth-century Europe, but this volume demonstrates that it was played out within a setting of turbulent diversity. Religious and ethnic identities were volatile, allegiances negotiable, and diplomacy, ideological exchange and human contact were constantly in operation between the period's major religious groupings-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of illustrations 8 Notes on contributors 9 Preface 13 List of abbreviations 14 Maps 15 1 Introduction 20 Part I Conquerors and conquered 32 2 Crusading in the fifteenth century and its relation to the development of Ottoman dynastic legitimacy, self-image and the Ottoman consolidation of authority 34 3 Byzantine refugees as crusade propagandists: the travels of Nicholas Agallon 53 Part II The crusading response: expressions, dynamics and constraints 66 4 Dances, dragons and a pagan queen: Sigismund of Luxemburg and the publicizing of the Ottoman Turkish threat 68 5 Alfonso V and the anti-Turkish crusade 83 6 Papal legates and crusading activity in central Europe: the Hussites and the Ottoman Turks 94 7 Switching the tracks: Baltic crusades against Russia in the fifteenth century 109 Part III Diplomatic and cultural interactions 126 8 Tīmūr and the ‘Frankish’ powers 128 9 Venetian attempts at forging an alliance with Persia and the crusade in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries 139 10 Quattrocento Genoa and the legacies of crusading 152 Part IV Frontier zones: the Balkans and the Adriatic 168 11 The key to the gate of Christendom? The strategic importance of Bosnia in the struggle against the Ottomans 170 12 Between two worlds or a world of its own? The eastern Adriatic in the fifteenth century 188 13 The Romanian concept of crusade in the fifteenth century 206 14 Conclusion: transformations of crusading in the long fifteenth century 225 Index 230 Part 1. Conquerors And Conquered. -- Part 2. The Crusading Response: Expressions, Dynamics And Contraints. -- Part 3. Diplomatic And Cultural Interactions. -- Part 4. Frontier Zones: The Balkans And The Adriatic. Edited By Norman Housley. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.